Adishu

Its Been A While

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 10:09:00 +0000

Its been a minute since I've posted something on here, working on a new layout for the site and will have consistent updates soon inshallah.

Eid Mubarak

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:13:00 +0000

Whuts good yal, happy eid, its been a minute since I posted some'm online, hopefully, I will have regular daily posts from now on, after november that is.

PACE MAGAZINE 10

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:51:00 +0000

I'm finally posting something --- news more like -- PACE (people are connected everywhere) Magazine is now updated online --- check it out, its our tenth issue and finally we're gonna celebrate this summer hopefully --- you can view last issue here (9).

A Helpless Nation

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 19:29:00 +0000

At some point in our lives we abandon our hopes, and sadly many Somalis have abandoned their hopes and aspirations for conflict free Somalia.

I have seen many people, even those around me, invest and make new identities here. Somalia to them is a distant land where their parents send couple hundreds every month. They’re not even eager to get a glimpse of Somalia anymore – I’m not eager myself to see war pictures, and the documentations of the many calamities that take place there.

We can’t help this land, the land and its inhabitants have slipped into an eternal coma, where there is life momentarily, and where death lurks in every corner in every form, this is Somalia. The same thing that divides and kills, also sustains lives – let us cure our permanent disease, our AIDS = QABIIL. Is that even possible?

Ayan Hersi

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Fri, 22 Jul 2005 16:35:00 +0000

Ayan Hersi, the most wanted Somali female in the Diaspora. Ayan Hersi, has said some bad things about Islam, the Prophet (PBUH). She is guarded twenty four seven, she does not sleep in the same place, and the threats she receives are out of this world. Somalis have expressed their opinions about her, and they’re not happy.

As Somalis we tend to be reactionary most of the time, especially when someone from our own culture uses inadequate discourse against the religion. Ayan Hersi is an idealist, propagandists and a mouthpiece for cultural colonialists. She believes that other cultures within Europe should assimilate and adapt to western cultures.

Ayan Hersi has waged war against Islam by suggesting that Muslim families should not force the hijab on girls [at a young age], and those girls should have voice and exist – I think religion becomes a choice for us at some point – but she’s suggesting that Muslim families should not teach the religion to their children at a young age – than what should they learn? Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, but not Islam – or should they simply become godless liberal objectivists like her? Should they believe in human spirituality and that nothing exists out there and that ultimately resort to the here and now attitude - and the ‘we are here now’ attitude does not work for all of us. If she is advocating human agency within Islam, I think it’s a bit pathetic to assume that it didn’t exist in the first place. She portrays Islam as a hostile religion, when its not. I think we give her a sense of defeat and purpose when we deploy reactionary tactics against her ideology. Ayan has waged war against multiculturalism in her host country– did she forget that she is a minority to begin with and that her host nation will always see her as a minority. Again we have to ask ourselves, whether she is intriguing, or is she a mouthpiece for the anti-Islamic movement. I think she will kill herself, when we stop talking about her, she enjoys the fact she started a hate cult against her.

I think we should deploy less reactionary, or violent tactics to battle people like Ayan Hersi, we can’t use physical or verbal threats against her, we can only change her through rational means – lets not forget she is very dangerous – unlike many Somalis, she follows the process – she can change policy and impact lives. I have no problem with her being an Atheist, but I do have a problem when you decide to dismantle the Islamic way of life through policy. It is crucial that we engage people like Ayan in more civilized dialogue, and perhaps convince her that she is wrong to be thinking that way.

Liars & Believers

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 15:32:00 +0000

Time Magazine’s interview with Marwan, an Iraqi insurgent who plans to blow himself up to further the cause of getting the American’s out of Iraq. The article was posted on Somalia Online, and one of the nomads has pointed out that the words fundamentalism, and radical was not used in the entire article. So here is a little response or rather an opinion why they’re not used as much, and how the language of the media is constantly shifting. The last two terms [fundamentalism and radical] are disappearing because they are occasionally used against the Bush administrations, terms such as Christian fundamentalism’ and ‘radical conservatism’ are somewhat redundant in liberal media critique against George Bush Jr. It’s even interesting when we evaluate the usage of language in the media – for example, we the see the dehumanization of suicide bombers by calling them ‘homicide bombers’ – it sidetracks their political cause - ultimately categorizing them into a criminal/and animalistic group. In addition to that, when Palestinians homes are destroyed, and demolished – the media often uses words such as ‘raze’ -the word sounds like ‘raise’ and people might think that it implies a non-destructive event, when in fact, raze means to destroy, flatten and etc. Even in the US political discourse – we clearly see the shift in language usage – for example compassionate conservatism is one concept that has been used a lot lately. Even this interview – we don’t get to empathize with Marwan – we see him as a person with conflicting beliefs. The writer examines him as a person, who is infatuated with the idea or theory of insurgency – he paints him as someone who is mesmerized by the pop-idolization of suicide bombing – the writer even emphasizes Marwans political ideas of global dominance post-liberation Iraq (don’t forget Marwan wants Americans out of Iraq first), showcasing that Marwan is too emotional, irrational, and his political beliefs to be entirely utopian. Western media has portrayed suicide bombers as irrelevant actors in Middle Eastern politics. Rather they have discredited them as political worriers and painted them as terrorists. They have often showed us that suicide bombing is a culture of worship –I remember on a report on TV showing posters of suicide bombers and the kind of respect, and celebrity status they get. By showing us this clip, or even the analytical overview or even presenting the concept into public discourse – it diminishes political apathy and discredits the overall cause. In fact when we see posters of bombers in local shops – there’s an element of desire – ultimately it’s not in the path to liberation, but the path to post-mortality superstardom. To live in misery is hell in it self – but to complete a horrible existence with a horrendous event – and after all be loved when your gone – who can resist that. In the lonely crowds of the willing as Beanie Sigel once suggested in a song ‘everybody wants to be a star.’ Muslim Westerners might think this, but than again, Sigel also suggests in another track that we often talk liberal, think Muslim and act like a Kufar. The US plans to occupy Iraq for the next decade, and please believe that Iraqi-Insurgent Idol will have truckloads of contestants. Perhaps they are true believers of the cause and the media should not display them in such manner, they should make serious of their paths – and showcase why they’re doing what they’re doing – and most of all they should not make them out to be human missiles that are ideologically handicapped. Instead they should emphasize their struggles, and at best acknowledge their tactics to be meaningful, effective, and politically feasible in the long run.

10 Things

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 15:53:00 +0000

Note // I'm Somali to begin with, and I’m not literally hating on everyone, just hose who have these tendencies, its just annoying sometimes. I’ do not hate on Somalis, other people of other origins have similar tendencies, and I’m just saying that we tend to overdue it sometimes. Most of those things apply to me as well.

1.Talking like they’re the experts of all things known to man. 2.Thinking that they’re smarter than you because they’re older 3.Only praying when they’re around religious people. 4.Using ‘af-arabi’ too much. 5.Supporting clan politics when they know nothing about the past, simply because they overheard their father b!tch about another clan over the phone with his khat-addicted coffee time friends. 6.Youth who hate their peers because they drink/do drugs/ and party hard, get some excitement in your lives. 7.Pray or Party – there is no balance. 8.Gossip folks – young and old 9.People who assume that because you’re in university you’ll be someone in the future, no some of us will be working at McDonalds. 10.People who hate on those who are making money --- stop wasting your time hating, start thinking about how you can make it too.

Freak of Nature

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 02:29:00 +0000

Just make sure that you don’t turn into that after using a hoax to drive up traffic onto your website. It’s real shameful, that Somali baby boomers can’t differentiate between what’s real and what’s not – my mom and all of her friends calling each other – they even called their Koran teacher – I wonder what he said. You can say that Dayniile has pulled off the biggest advertising campaign in the history of Somali websites. After all they are known for fabricating news, and people often believe them. I guess they figured they can make up b/s and get away with it.

An e-mail was sent to PACE magazine, and other news organizations warning us that the story was not real, it went as follows.... "The picture IS NOT REAL! It is a picture of a humanoid sculpture created by artist Patricia Piccinini. She creates exhibits of half human half animal creatures! Go to http://www.patriciapiccinini.net/ and go to link “We are Family”. The person who spread this picture on the internet used a photo of her sculptures and changed it and put it online with a fake story" - spread the word.

For further discussion, see my post on Somalia Online

Freeing Togane

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 21:02:00 +0000

Togane’s site is finally up, the man who popularized clever political antidotes about tribalism. He’s a got a website finally. I remember meeting Togane in Montreal at his house one morning for breakfast, and I remember walking the hallway of his house, and seeing books everywhere, even on the kitchen table. All of these books have been marked, read, and occasionally during my visit he would grab a book and flip to a page and quote me something. His religious discourse is intriguing – he memorized the Koran, and knows a lot about the religion – which is interesting since most people often ask him whether he is Muslim or not. I did see a picture of Togane dressed as Santa Clause with a kid on his lap. That morning I learned a lot from him. He visited Ottawa recently for a Somali youth night event and he stayed near my house and he did tell us great stories. There will be a launch party for the website in Ottawa or Montreal, not sure yet. I will post all the necessary information for the launch party. Big ups to SOL for hooking him with the new site, its off the hook. WWW.TOGANE.ORG

Picking up the PACE

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:21:00 +0000

I ran into Cu at Business Depot, his magazine mirror magazine is doing well, and he started Preston Catalogue and its doing very well according to him. They recently had a celebration party where eight hundred people showed up each paying a double digit ticket price. Which made me realize, I need to start making moves on PACE – I will tell you one thing expect some change. It’s time to take major risks – and gamble with ideas. I’m motivated by Cu for sure, and the amount of success he has achieved. I remember, he started mirror the same time I started PACE. I can only say this, you will see PACE at your local magazine shop very soon. I won’t say numbers, but let’s just say Cu’s businesses are doing very well. He will be starting a newspaper as well which will come out every two weeks and a restaurant review magazine. I’m motivated

Bitter Sweet Victory

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 04:23:00 +0000

Today I got a job at this community center near my crib. I will be starting next week, but the workload is out of this world. I will be what they called a ‘floater’ – I will be working on multiple projects, - lotta research and program evaluation stuff. I think I will be doing a basketball tournament among other things. It should be fun, its not a like a conventional job – I will be helping out the community after all.

On thing is for sure I will be able to purchase the Olympus E-volt camera, and I can’t wait to get it, and if everything goes well [inshallah] I might even fit in a new G5. I would have to sell my current PC. I regret selling my old G4, I should have kept it.

Some’m in Air

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 00:19:00 +0000

S has been visiting Ottawa for a minute now - he has been waiting to get his visa to move to Europe to be with his wife. But recently, he went to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan [I think that’s the place] for a job interview and he did get the job. We all celebrated at buffet, which was the worst buffet ever, SF got depressed, MoeUK and I ate mad food there, but S, and SF didn’t enjoy the buffet. I figured these buffet’s release some sort of a chemical gas in the air, to make people think that their full, or maybe they put some drugs in the water, cuz they always come around like every five seconds or some’m. The picture above was taken by S at the airport. S is a chemical engineer.

Live From Mecca

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 22:14:00 +0000

A, has been in Kuwait for a minute now, his summer vacation. We were wondering where he was for the past couple of days, it turns out he was visiting Mecca. Check his blog for exclusive pictures. thinkxcentric

AK-47 vs. Soccer Ball

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 03:07:00 +0000

Many people have been asking the picture on the cover and what it supposed to mean. Well here’s the thing, the kid with the gun, and the soccer ball represents the essence of the cover article. The cover article analyses why we like warlords, see we all have our own warlords that we like, because they uphold our own clan politics or what not, every Somali belongs to a clan its given. The kid is victim of the warlord and those in the Diaspora who give money to the warlord – see the warlord becomes the father of orphans and he mobilizes them with the money he gains from his supporters in the west. The picture has many readings, so I won’t get into the specifics of it, but do let me know if the image has a different message or concept.

Somali Youth Basketball League | Dialogue Series

ahmed@adishu.com (@ issue) — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 03:03:00 +0000

The Somali Youth Basketball League (SYBL) ended their second year yesterday at a ceremony in the west end of Ottawa. It was good to see so many young Somali youths, keeping out of the streets and doing something that is productive. Afterwards, I gave my little speech at MU’s event – we had a small crowd turn out, but they were engaged in the discussion and they had good questions. We ended up staying there two hours past the end time. The youths who showed up were interested in many topics, so inshallah in the future we will have some more dialogue series. I spoke with OG about some possible events in the future, sometime in August, we hope that will go well if we put everything together. I was also planning to hold a jam in Toronto for the magazine this summer, we’re still workin on that – but we haven’t finalized things just yet.